Anton Ponomarev – League’s top Kazakh player

Astana forward Anton Ponomarev has been recognized as the VTB United League’s top Kazakh player in 2012/13. He received his award today in Astana from VTB United League deputy general director Julia Anikeeva prior to Game 1 of the Astana – VEF first-round playoff series.

This season the VTB United League inaugurated individual prizes for the top players from each of the nine countries featuring at least one League club (the prize is awarded by citizenship, not club allegiance). In the six countries represented by only one club (Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Belarus, Czech Republic and Kazakhstan), the honoree will be determined by a panel of League experts. The top player from Russia (nine clubs), Lithuania (three clubs) and Ukraine (two clubs) will be chosen by the League in partnership with a leading sports media outlet in that country: Russian information agency R-Sport (RIA Novosti), Lithuanian website basketnews.lt, and Ukrainian website basket-planet.com.

Anton Ponomarev is the 4th player to be recognized. Nymburk’s Petr Benda (Czech Republic), Kalev’s Tanel Sokk (Estonia), and Turow’s Aaron Cel (Poland) already received their awards.

Ponomarev played 17 games for Astana this season, averaging 7.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 0.3 assists and a 10.4 efficiency rating.
In Game 1 of Astana’s first-round playoff series against VEF (Latvia), the 24-year-old forward scored 14 points in his team’s 89-76 win.

- To be honest, I didn’t expect that I would receive this award, - said Anton Ponomarev in an interview with VTB-League.com. – I’m grateful to the VTB United League. It’s very nice. I can say that this is one of the biggest awards of my career. I don’t plan to rest on my laurels. I plan to keep playing and competing for other prizes.